


please notice

by Maggiemaye



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alderaan, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/M, HEA, Hurt/Comfort, Jedi Bodyguard, Jedi Rey (Star Wars), Prince Ben Solo, Reverse anidala vibes, Romance, Slow Burn, Touch-Starved, tags to be updated, this will be soft
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-18
Updated: 2020-05-04
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:48:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23723356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maggiemaye/pseuds/Maggiemaye
Summary: "You feel like a fire in the Force, sometimes," she murmured. "Like if I touch you, I'll be burned away to nothing and remade.""Are you afraid?""No. No, I'm not.""That's good," he said, leaning closer, "because I am."*Prince Ben Organa of Alderaan has recently been the victim of an assassination attempt. Jedi Knight Rey has been tasked by Luke Skywalker to assure his safety. History repeats itself.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 15
Kudos: 54





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I have realized that what I need to get through this quarantine is to write some soft slow-burn Reylo, so here it is :) Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoy! Comments are GREATLY appreciated and I try to always respond to them.
> 
> \--Maggie

“My nephew can be…difficult.”

It was the first Master Luke had spoken since they had begun the flight. Rey looked over at him, wondering why it had taken him so long to divulge this. She hesitated for a moment, letting the quiet whirs and hums of their spacecraft swirl around her, before speaking.

“Is he more difficult than those goons from the Hutt cartel we ran into last month?” she replied, lips quirked up into a smile. Beside her, Luke’s face remained impassive, but Rey sensed a ripple of amusement in his Force signature.

“It’s good that you’re confident,” said Luke, and Rey tried to tamp down the familiar glow of pride at the master’s approval. 

“Just don’t underestimate the challenges of the role you’re about to take on,” he continued. “You are there to provide security. Not necessarily to investigate what happened.”

“I don’t understand, Master. If I could prevent another attempt on his life--”

“Not your job. Not your role.” Luke was adamant; Rey could feel his signature arranging itself into an impenetrable wall. “If you sense immediate danger, then of course you must take action. But you are not there to get to the bottom of Alderaan’s political issues, or who may or may not have a grudge against Ben. You are there to protect him from physical harm, and keep him alive.”

“But how can I do that without finding where the threat is coming from?”

He sighed, almost imperceptibly. “I’m just warning you not to overstep. Of course I trust your judgment, Rey. I wouldn’t have chosen you for this post if I didn’t.”

“Yes, Master,” she replied, taking on the mantle of the meek padawan even though she had removed her braid weeks ago. Luke never seemed to mind her questions, but it was still her instinct to be deferential to him. For fifteen years he had been her family, such that a Jedi Master could be family to an unloved girl. He had taken Rey under his wing ever since he’d plucked her from the desert at five years old. And now he was entrusting her with the life of his nephew, Prince Ben Organa of Alderaan. It was a weighty assignment. Luke rarely spoke of his family, but Rey could hardly miss the regard he held for them, in spite of the “no attachments” adage he sometimes liked to repeat. She swallowed the sudden lump in her throat at the implications. She could not fail in this assignment. If harm came to the prince, she feared that Luke would never forgive her. 

“You said that the prince is Force-sensitive,” she said, returning her mind to the present.

Luke nodded. “Very much so. He has a lot of...raw strength in the Force.”

There was that pause again. Luke seemed to struggle for the correct words to describe his nephew. What sort of person could this Ben Organa be, to make her master so uncertain?

Rey was not a Jedi Knight for nothing. She was used to entering situations with only vague information, or none at all. Anything she truly needed to know, she could typically ascertain with the Force, or simply with sharp powers of observation. Luke was still determinedly closing his Force signature off from her, but Rey could see the hard set of his mouth and tension in his robe-clad shoulders. Luke was nervous. Decidedly so. 

They began to prepare for landing, ending the discussion before it had really begun. Rey slid back into the pilot’s seat, Luke assisting beside her.

“I’ve never been to Alderaan before,” she mused, unnecessarily. She almost hoped that Luke hadn’t heard her over the sound of their ship entering the planet’s atmosphere, but it was a vain hope. He looked over at her, face unreadable.

“Well, you’ll be seeing a lot of the palace, at least,” he remarked, kindly not commenting on the fact that he already knew every place she’d ever been in her life, because he had been with her. “And wherever else my nephew goes, I guess. Somehow I doubt he does much sightseeing.”

“That’s okay,” she said quietly. She couldn’t hide her smile at the thought of seeing the palace, anyway. And all the green. She’d heard that Alderaan was a lush planet, full of life. Her years in the desert had left an indelible impression on her despite being so young when Luke had bought her from Plutt. She could never suppress her pleasure upon visiting green planets. And now she would be living on one, at least for a while. 

Finn would be jealous. She would have to make it seem like she wasn’t enjoying herself, when she commed him. 

Rey didn’t get the experience of seeing Alderaan in all its glory as they descended into the atmosphere. It was pitch black outside, obscuring what she could already tell were beautiful trees.

“Why did we come so late?”

This time, Luke heaved a sigh.

“Leia thought it would make things easier.”

“How?”

“She wanted you to have some time to adjust before Ben knows we’re here. He won’t react well to having a guard.”

Rey frowned at this. Why was everyone so afraid of the prince? Even his family walked on eggshells to avoid his wrath, it seemed. It didn’t seem right, sneaking into the palace while he (presumably) slept. She wondered what his reaction would be in the morning, when he discovered she was there.

It was a good thing Rey wasn’t his family. She would not cower before Ben Organa, prince or not.

She landed their ship in the palace’s massive hangar, slipping into the focused, collected headspace she would need for her upcoming assignment. _There is no emotion, there is peace._

Luke lowered the ramp and exited the ship, Rey following a few paces behind. Awaiting them was a tall, brassy-looking droid.

“Master Luke!” he exclaimed. “Oh, my! It’s so good to see you.”

“Hello, Threepio,” Luke replied, some warmth injecting his tone. “This is Rey. Rey, this is C-3PO.”

“Oh! Another Jedi! How wonderful. Follow me, the both of you. The Queen is waiting.”

Rey grinned at her feet as they followed the droid into the palace. Each hall they went down was sleek and airy, with ceilings that made Rey feel small. Ahead of her, Luke sauntered on, not looking around him except to address Threepio now and then. He was back to his usual tranquility, unaffected by the grandeur of the palace while Rey could not help but feel a little intimidated. Until now, she hadn’t allowed herself to dwell on the fact that this was her first assignment on her own, that she would be away from her master for the foreseeable future. She couldn’t stop the bright bolt of fear that lanced through her Force signature. Almost immediately, Luke’s own signature responded to her, smoothing the ragged edges of her emotions. Luke’s Force signature had always felt to Rey like a cool rain, a balm for her emotional spikes. They didn’t happen so often anymore, but she had a feeling that she would miss Luke’s tempering influence in the time to come.

Feeling re-centered, Rey reached out with the Force. At the edge of her awareness there was a new presence, faint but bright and alert. And, farther away, there was another. This signature was undeniably dark, and strong, but instead of the blistering cold that signified the dark side, this one was _warm._ It had a muted quality to it, the owner likely asleep. For a split second Rey felt herself drawn to this signature, enticed by the thought of enveloping herself in its soft depths.

She blinked, pulling back. This was the opposite of centered. _There is no emotion, there is peace_ , she repeated again to herself.

C-3PO took them around the last bend, into a sitting room that looked ten times the size of any room she was used to at the Jedi temple. The chamber was so massive that it made the woman standing in the middle look small. But as she advanced toward them, Rey could see that nothing could have been further from the truth. She was small in stature, yes, but she projected an air of regality that had even Luke standing a little straighter. 

This was Luke’s sister, then. Leia, Queen of Alderaan. Rey instinctively leaned forward, ready to hang on this woman’s every word. Though she had never actually met the queen before, she’d definitely gotten an impression of her. Not only from Luke’s sparing comments, but also from the posters of her from the Rebellion days that hung in bars and shops all over the galaxy. Leia had become the face of it, especially after the war had ended. It was easy to reconcile the firey, youthful Princess Leia from the posters with the woman standing in front of them now.

“Luke,” she said, a delighted smile on her face, as she embraced her brother. Luke didn’t say anything in response, but Rey could feel the happy thrum in the Force as they hugged. She looked away, trying to keep her sudden awkwardness from showing on her face.

That faded, though, when Leia turned to face her.

“You must be Rey,” she said, warmly squeezing Rey’s hands. Rey stared down at them, bewildered but strangely charmed by the gesture.

“I’m so grateful that you accepted this post,” she went on. “Luke assures me that my son is in good hands with you, dear.”

Rey nodded. “Your Majesty, is there any more you can tell me about the attempt on the prince’s life? Anything that may help me to protect him?”

Leia binked, perhaps taken aback by Rey’s abrupt pivot into business. But Rey had suddenly found herself off-balance again. It had been so many years since her hands had been held. No motherly endearments existed in her memory, and she certainly had never heard them at the Jedi temple. Leia had...startled her. Yes, that was it. She was startled. And she had to maintain a clear head if she was to complete this assignment.

Failure was unthinkable. Even more so now that she had met the Queen. 

“It happened during a session of Parliament,” Leia said, her smile fading. “Ben was on the floor, arguing a frankly _insulting_ proposal--”

She broke off to roll her eyes at her son’s apparent political shortcomings.

“And as he was speaking, he was shot with a blaster bolt. It hit near his spine; he was lucky they managed to get him into a bacta tank before he was paralyzed. And the gunman escaped in the chaos.”

“The prince didn’t sense anything? No ill intent from anyone around him?” 

  
Leia shook her head. “He says he had no idea.”

Rey’s brow furrowed. “Is it possible that the shooter was able to cloak their intentions in the Force somehow?”

Luke sighed. “Rey, you are asking a lot of questions.”

“Well, maybe I just wanted to take the opportunity to ask someone who might actually answer them, master,” she retorted, needling him just enough to see him crack the barest hint of a smile. It might have been imperceptible to most, but not the two women in the room with him. Leia chuckled.

“My dear,” she said to Rey, “I think you and I will get along just fine.”

At this, Rey could feel her own lips curl up into a grin. She opened her mouth to ask more about the known Force-sensitive individuals in Parliament, but her hair suddenly began to stand on end before she could.

Immediately, the mood in the room shifted. Luke and Leia had noted her sudden tension

“Rey, what--”

She cut Luke off with a gasp at the sudden sinister presence that had entered the Force around them. It _slithered_ into her awareness, all-encompassing and cold enough to burn.

“Someone’s here. In the palace,” she said for Leia’s benefit, thinking that Luke would have already recognized the threatening signature. But he was only looking at her, eyebrows furrowed. 

She didn’t have time to wait for him. He would be right behind her, she told herself as she rushed off in the direction of the signature. She whipped around dark hallways and up staircases, letting the cold dread guide her closer and closer to the intruding signature. She had not expected her first test to come so quickly. How could someone have gotten into the palace in the middle of the night? Was the security so lax here? No wonder Leia had asked Luke to send a Jedi Knight to help. Clearly, the prince wasn’t safe even in his own home.

She was getting ahead of herself.

In one fluid motion, Rey threw open the door that she knew would lead her to the intruder and ignited her saber. The blue light illuminated the shapes of the room; a desk in the corner, a wardrobe against the far wall, and a giant, opulent bed.

Rey stopped scanning the room after that. Her saber hummed in the silence, between herself and the room’s only other occupant. 

He had clearly been sleeping before she’d barged into his room, but now he was wide awake. He scrambled upright; the blankets fell to his waist, revealing miles of broad, naked torso to her gaze. She flushed hot and whipped her eyes back up to meet his own, only to see them boring furious holes into her.

“Who the hell are you?” 

The sinister Force presence had retreated by now. For the first time in as long as she could remember, Rey stammered.

“I...I…”

“Oh my. Well, I suppose it couldn’t have been put off much longer, anyway.” 

Rey jumped and finally turned her saber off at the sound of Leia’s voice behind her. The hallway light was now on, providing a clear backlight for Leia and Luke’s identical raised eyebrows.

“Well, Rey,” Leia said on a sigh, “I see you’ve met my son.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we have a snarky Prince Ben Organa, and I must say I am loving that about him :)
> 
> It's been really fun working on a new fic, and I really appreciate all the kudos and such from the first chapter! Comments are my lifeblood, so if you are enjoying this I would love to hear from you :) And I'm also on Tumblr, though I'm not the most active over there. My Star Wars sideblog is @soloskywalking if you want say hi and/or cry with me about all things Star Wars. Stay well, friends!
> 
> \--Maggie

Once his life had stopped flashing in blue light before his eyes, Ben focused on wrapping his mind around the absurdity of what was happening.

“You’re the prince?” the Jedi demanded. Though he couldn’t see her face very well in the dark, he could see her head whipping from him back to his mother and uncle in the doorway.

“For someone who just barged into my room in the middle of the night, you sound pretty surprised.” He was trying to sound unaffected as he crawled out of bed and grabbed the shirt he’d discarded hours ago. 

“But where is the...whoever was in here, it was a Darksider, a powerful one! And they were...they were _ just _ in here.”

Ben turned on the light.

She looked younger than he would have expected. Ben stared for half a moment, noting her wide eyes and flushed cheeks. Her confusion made her turbulent in the Force, reminding Ben of a churning ocean. Her gaze caught his and Ben could see her searching for the missing piece of the puzzle she’d found. She wasn’t rifling through his mind with the Force, though. Just searching his eyes and his expression, waiting for him to give something away.

Ben couldn’t remember the last time he had been looked at so intently. Her eyes, still roving over his face, were bright hazel in the illuminated room. And all the while her Force signature stretched toward him, curious, barely brushing the edges of his own before retreating. He suppressed an oddly pleasant shiver. 

He knew the answer she was searching for. But he wasn’t giving her anything.

“This family has reached a new low, I think,” Ben remarked, raising his voice for Leia and Luke’s benefit but keeping his eyes on the girl. “Sending a Jedi to chop me up in my sleep? That’s rich.”

“Ben, stop,” Leia chided. “Rey is here to see to your security.”

He’d been mentally drafting another sarcastic comment, but this stopped him short.

“You got me a bodyguard.”

“Don’t sound so surprised, son,” Leia replied. “You can’t imagine we wouldn’t take extra measures to protect you after what happened.”

“A kriffing  _ bodyguard,”  _ he growled, clenching a fist hard enough that his nails dug into his palm. 

“It won’t be forever, but until the investigation is over you still need—“

“No. Send her back,” he said flatly. He was aware of how petulant, how  _ princely _ , he sounded. But a Force-sensitive bodyguard watching his every move was the last thing he needed.

“We don’t have time for this!” the young Jedi burst out. “I have to find whoever was just in here. Your Highness, I think it’s wise if you—“

“Rey,” Luke interrupted in that placid, infuriating tone of his, “there was no other signature here besides Ben’s. It’s possible you were just taken aback by it. I did tell you that he is very strong in the Force.”

“It’s all right, dear,” Leia added. They were both clearly trying to spare the girl’s feelings. Like she should be embarrassed about her mishap. “Ben’s signature often does feel...volatile. It would be easy for you to mistake it for a Dark side power.”

The girl—Rey—stood there for another moment, staring at them all in open disbelief. It nearly distracted Ben from the humiliation of being talked about like he wasn’t even there. Surely it didn’t bode well that his own mother was trying to warn this girl about him.  _ Volatile _ , she’d said, like he’d fly off the handle at any moment. Granted, there had been a time in his life when that wouldn’t have been far from the truth. But thanks to Snoke’s mentorship over the years, he’d matured. And yet Leia still managed to make him sound like a cross between a toddler and a wild animal. 

He almost didn’t want to see Rey’s reaction. But it turned out to be oddly satisfying.

“But...no! I felt  _ him,”  _ Rey said emphatically, pointing at Ben, “when we first walked into the palace. This wasn’t him. This was someone else entirely. Master Luke, please listen to me. You must have felt it, too.”

She didn’t believe them. His relatives were trying to tell this girl that he was a monster, basically, and she didn’t believe it. Ben might have been touched by this, if it wasn’t so inconvenient. She was much closer to the truth than the rest of them realized. And however validating it was to have someone not immediately assume the worst in him, Ben had to steer her away from it.

Well. If his family was going to make him out to be an obnoxious ass, he could play that part.

“That’s where you’re wrong, Jedi,” he taunted her, making sure to add enough of a sneer that she’d back off. But she just turned back to him, eyes hardening, and it occurred to Ben for the first time that maybe the spine-chilling tone he was going for wouldn’t intimidate a Jedi Knight. Still, he pressed on.

“That darkness you felt? It wasn’t some evil Sith monster, it was me. Just me. Still want to protect me now?”

If a Jedi had the ability to look stunned, that was the look Rey gave him as he spoke.

“Why are you lying?” she asked him, sounding perhaps more wounded than the situation warranted, in Ben’s opinion. “I can’t keep you safe if you lie, Your Highness.”

“Come on now, Rey,” Leia chimes back in, putting an arm around Rey’s shoulders. It was meant to be a comforting gesture, Ben could see, but Rey jumped at the contact.

“I’ll show you where you’ll be sleeping. Clearly, we could all use some sleep.” Leia shot a look over her shoulder at Ben. Rey, for her part, didn’t take her eyes off him even as she was herded from the room. In the Force, her signature observed his at a distance, but her eyes devoured.

Only when she was gone did he allow himself to breathe again. He could still feel her in the Force, but at least those big, striking eyes weren’t on him anymore. He tried not to think about how she had looked, fierce in her resolve as she’d unknowingly defended him to his family.

Ben sat back down on the bed and groaned into his hands. Sleep would be impossible now. And it was just as well, for shortly after his family and Rey had gone, he felt the telltale pulling at the back of his mind. He yielded to it, as he always did. 

It hurt every time, when Snoke entered his mind. His presence was just so all-encompassing that it was difficult for Ben to hold both Snoke and himself within the confines of one mind. But after a lifetime of such visits, Ben had figured out how to master the pain. Resisting only prolonged the agony; it felt better to surrender to it. He took a breath as the white-hot Force signature stretched his mind beyond its natural limit.

“You have a guest in your home, Your Highness,” Snoke said, the voice in his head laced with the frigid bite of dark side power. “I confess I was intrigued when I sensed an...unfamiliar presence in your quarters.”

Ben’s mind filled with an image of Rey, staring at him with big hazel eyes that he seemed to fixate on even in his memory.

“My family has sent a Jedi Knight to guard me.”

“A Jedi?” Snoke hissed. “Have I not told you that  _ I _ will provide any protection you require? Get rid of her, boy.”

“You’d have to take that up with the Queen,” Ben replied. The quip had slipped past his mental filter before he’d been able to stop it and he braced for Snoke’s rebuke. But it didn’t come.

“Ah, of course. The Queen’s word is still law, after all,” he said mildly. “Well, perhaps the Jedi girl will prove useful in time. Watch her closely. If she must be near you, I must be apprised of all her movements. For your own safety, of course.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good. And now,” Snoke sneered, and Ben could already feel the knife’s edge of pain at the base of his skull, “I had thought you would have outgrown your insolence by now, boy. Perhaps you still require more...refinement.”

Ben didn’t have time to be surprised, and he’d lost his fear of Snoke’s methods long ago. Though he did find himself clinging foolishly to the image of Rey’s eyes, holding out for just a moment before Snoke’s fire overtook everything. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so appreciative of all the kudos, comments, etc. from the past couple of chapters! As always, I'd love to hear from you if you're enjoying this. I'm also on tumblr as @soloskywalking if you'd like to come say hi :)
> 
> \--Maggie

Alderaan fully lived up to expectations in the daylight.

Rey could almost forget the events of the night before as she looked out her window. Breath catching, she swept her eyes over the treetops, clear skies and distant waterfalls. Her room was on one of the top floors of the palace, almost directly across the hall from the prince’s chambers. It was a royal view from her window, then. Rey allowed herself the brief indulgence of a smile as she imagined the trees, what they would smell like up close, how the leaves would feel if she were to touch one. 

In the Force, she stretched out her senses for the prince. She didn’t linger, just brushed against his muted signature to ensure that his sleep was still undisturbed. Rey wasn’t surprised that he was still sleeping, after the night they’d had. She hadn’t slept well herself, having felt the awful Force presence worm its way into the castle again mere moments after she’d closed her bedroom door. By sheer force of will, she had fought the overwhelming instinct to run back into the prince’s room, saber ignited. Luke and Leia had made it clear that they were unconcerned about whatever it was, and the prince might have tossed her bodily out of the castle if she’d interrupted him again. 

Normally this would not have deterred Rey at all. But while she had been struggling to make sense of what was happening in the Force, she’d quickly realized that all was not right with the royal family. Things between Ben and his mother were frayed, at best. Neither she nor Luke had any qualms about implying that the prince was strong with the Dark side. Worst of all, she’d been forced to question her master’s abilities for the first time. Why had he not felt what Rey had? 

She had stood in her new room, back pressed to the door, until the invading Force presence finally retreated and all she felt was the prince. When she’d dropped onto her bed from pure exhaustion, he had still been awake. 

Now that morning had revealed Alderaan to be the paradise that it was, Rey was sad to think there could be dark secrets here. How could anything evil ever touch a place like this, Rey wondered? Alderaan was nothing like the harsh planet of her youth, or the places she’d followed Master Luke to battle evil in the galaxy. It pained her to know that not even this beautiful place was untouched by the dark.

Rey knew that her thoughts were naive. Luke had shown her that light could be found in the most unlikely of places, just as darkness often lurked beneath a beautiful surface. But she liked imagining a place that was removed from evil. It was another small indulgence that she allowed herself. 

She opened the window, focusing her awareness on the faint breeze touching her skin. It was almost meditative, closing her eyes in order to empty her mind of all but these small sensations. There wasn’t time for a full morning’s meditation, as she had grown used to at the temple. But Rey could still attempt to center herself. As she stood in contemplative silence, the Force ebbed and flowed within her like an ever-shifting tide. Rey breathed in rhythm with its pulse, feeling the interchanges of energy all around her. And beneath it all lay that deep chasm she’d felt upon walking into the palace. Again, it seemed to tug her gently down, down into its embrace. Rey didn’t resist this time; it felt lovely and warm. Yes, there were shadows there, but Rey wasn’t afraid. They wouldn’t harm her. All she had to do was— 

A knock at the door yanked Rey back to awareness of her surroundings. Outside her window, the angle of the sun had changed slightly; she must have been standing there for longer than she’d thought. Quickly, she probed outward in the Force to make sure she had not missed Master Luke’s departure. He was still there, she noted with relief. But he was not the one who had knocked at her door.

Rey pulled the door open to reveal Queen Leia, dressed in dark blue with an intricate braid crowning her head. 

“Good morning, Rey. I hope you were able to rest last night.” The Queen strode into Rey’s room right away; Rey stepped deftly aside to accommodate her.

“Good morning, your Majesty,” she replied, opting for a demure lowering of her eyes rather than a bow. 

“After today I will have Threepio brief you on Ben’s daily schedule. But I wanted to help acclimate you myself today. I admit I...wanted to check on you, after last night.”

Rey balked at this. Was it her youth that made Leia think she needed to be “checked on,” or did she think Rey weak? Again, her instinct was to look away from Leia.

“Thank you,” she made herself say. Master Luke would warn her against being prideful, if he were here now. “I’m fine. I apologize if I alarmed you.” 

Leia scoffed. “Don’t ever worry about that. I’m not easily shaken, or so I like to believe. And last night showed me that you are exactly who I want protecting my son’s life. You are dedicated, Rey, and clearly perceptive.”

“Thank you,” she said again, warming a bit. 

“Today Parliament will convene for its final vote of the current session,“ Leia informed her, speaking quickly, “and Ben will have to be there. He won’t be delivering an address, but he will be out in the open to cast his vote. The session typically lasts several hours, and...and I can’t stop thinking about who in that room might have wanted him dead. Might still want him dead. I know this isn’t exactly an informative briefing, Rey, but I just wanted to…”

Her voice quavered, and in this moment it wouldn’t have taken a Jedi Knight to read Leia’s intentions. She feared for her son, and wanted him safe. She loved him, in spite of her apparent lack of faith in him. Though Rey barely knew either of them, she was relieved to see Leia this way. 

“I understand,” Rey said, her tone kinder. “The Force will guide me, your Majesty.”

“I know. It just concerns me that, when it happened, Ben never sensed any danger or ill intent.”

“I mean no offense toward the prince, but Master Luke has said he is untrained in the ways of the Force. I am not. When I say that the Force will guide me, I don’t mean it as a platitude. I mean it quite literally. Your brother has taught me to be aware of the living Force always. I have honed these skills all my life.”

Leia looked up at her with watery eyes. 

“Then you can keep him safe? You’re certain that you can?”

A shift in the Force drew Rey’s attention before she could reply. Ben’s signature, which had been still while he’d slept, was beginning to sharpen in her awareness as he woke across the hall. It felt relatively calm, but she sensed tension roiling under the surface even moments after waking.

“What is it?” Leia asked, noting her distraction.

“Nothing. The Prince is just awake now. I felt the shift.”

“You sense him quite strongly.” 

Rey didn’t know what to say to that. Leia spared her from further comment, though, with her next words.

“I shouldn't have asked you for assurances earlier. I know that you can’t give them to me. Luke always tells me as much.”

“I should go to him before he leaves.” Rey glanced out the window again. “He will wish to be on his way soon.”

“Yes, you’re probably right. Go ahead and find him, dear. Ben and I will meet you soon.”

Rey turned with a parting wand, trying to tamp down the warmth that bloomed in her when Leia called her “dear.” She was getting too used to hearing it, already. 

Luke turned up in the palace hangar, already preparing to depart.

“You weren’t going to leave without saying goodbye, were you?” 

Luke looked up, returning her small grin but quickly letting it fall away. He came to stand before her, clasping her shoulders and meeting her eyes.

“Rey,” he said in a low voice, “if you’re not sure about this--”

“I’m sure, Master. I can do this. Unless...you are the one who isn’t sure.”

He looked behind her. Rey turned around to find that Leia and Ben had entered the hangar, the latter looking sour.

“No, Rey, I don’t doubt you. Just remember your training, for your sake as well as Ben’s.”

Luke brushed past her to embrace his sister and tell her goodbye. They didn’t speak; Rey suspected that they did not need to. He turned then to Ben.

“See ya, kid,” he said, not unkindly. But Ben returned it with only a grunt and, if possible, an even darker expression than before. 

Luke accepted this stoically, as if he had expected nothing less. He made his way back to his ship again; Rey was overcome with the urge to rush to him, but she stayed still. A model Jedi, watching her master go with a detached expression. But Luke being Luke, he turned back to Rey once more. He didn’t speak, but he did come back to stand in front of her. He tipped her chin up with his thumb, a gesture from Rey’s childhood that she had never forgotten.

“Be safe, Master,” she told him.

“May the Force be with you,” he replied, giving her a quick wink before turning back to his ship. He had always been able to steady her, with or without the Force. She would miss that, when he was gone.

Rey watched him until he had boarded his ship and closed the door behind him. She turned back to see Leia looking regally impassive, if a little sad, while Ben stood beside her, glowering at Rey as if she had just robbed him. 

Rey swallowed as she met his laser-focused gaze. Her master’s presence in the Force had shrunk to a pinprick, like a distant star. 

Now, Rey was truly on her own.


End file.
